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The soldiers do not have the right to engage in Ukraine but some have taken the plunge and are causing concern.
British soldiers are said to have left to fight alongside the Ukrainian army once morest Russian forces.
AFP
Four British soldiers are said to have gone to Ukraine with the intention of joining the international legion and fighting once morest Russian forces. They have thus embarrassed the authorities of their country and caused concern. A minister stressed that these soldiers created a “dangerous situation”.
The “Sun” a revealed that one of the four soldiers who would like to do battle in Ukraine is a very young guard of the queen of 19 years. While on duty, he left his barracks in Windsor, left a note for his parents and booked a one-way ticket to Poland. He then wanted to cross the border and may have already succeeded in doing so.
According to the British tabloid, the authorities would like to intercept him at all costs because if he were to be captured by Russian forces, there would be a risk that Vladimir Putin would use this case to claim that the United Kingdom had entered the war. The same obviously goes for the other three British soldiers.
The army has confirmed that soldiers are banned from traveling to Ukraine. “This applies whether the service person is on leave or not. Staff traveling to Ukraine will face disciplinary and administrative consequences,” a spokesperson said.
But can we really fear that Russia will seize such a pretext? Or is the “Sun” playing a little scary? Questioned, a minister was in any case really worried, even if he put things into perspective.
Don’t “complicate things”
“There is a big difference between the UK sending in its army and some people breaking our law and going to war,” Transport Secretary Grant Shapps began. reports the HuffPost. “But, clearly, this is a dangerous situation. And clearly, we want to make sure that the assistance we provide is done in an official way,” he noted.
Conservative MP and Chairman of the Defense Select Committee, Tobias Ellwood said much the same thing. He can understand the desire to go and defend Ukraine, which he described as a “noble cause”. But also pointed out that if Russians realize they are fighting British soldiers it might “complicate things”.
Clearly, for the British authorities, even if the risk is probably minor, it is important not to give the slightest pretext for an escalation of the conflict to Vladimir Putin.